ritual
Syllables: ri·tu·alUK/ˈɹɪt͡ʃ.u.əl/
ritual adjective: related to a rite or repeated set of actions.
Adjective
ritual (comparative more ritual, superlative most ritual)
- Related to a rite or repeated set of actions.
- They performed the ritual lighting of the candles.
- These verses are the basis for the practice of wearing a prayer shawl (tallit) with a ritual fringe (tzitzit) on each of its four corners2001, David L. Lieber, Jules Harlow, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, page 855
Noun
ritual (countable and uncountable, plural rituals)
- A rite; a repeated set of actions, especially in religious contexts (that is, a service).
- The priests carried out the religious ritual carefully.
- Despite their good intentions, family members who participate in OCD rituals help reinforce the problem.2017, Christine Honders, OCD: The Struggle with Obsessions and Compulsions, page 44
ritual meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
ritual in Hindi
- related to a rite
- रीति rīti, अनुष्ठान anuṣṭhān, संस्कार sanskār
- repeated set of actions
- अनुष्ठान anuṣṭhān
ritual in Tamil
- சடங்கு, வழக்கம்
ritual in Urdu
- رسم
ritual in Bengali
- repeated set of actions
- আচার acar
More languagesFewer languages
- ritual in Telugu
- పద్ధతి paddhati
- ritual in Malayalam
- ആചാരം ācāraṁ, പ്രത്യയം pratyayaṁ, ചടങ്ങ് caṭaṅṅŭ
- ritual in Kannada
- ಕೊಂಡಾಡುವ ಬಗೆ, ವಿಧಿವತ್ತಾದ ನಡವಳಿಕೆ, ಮತ ಕ್ರಿಯಾವಿಧಿಗಳ ಅನುಷ್ಠಾನ, ಮಾಮೂಲಿ ಕ್ರಮ
- ritual in Gujarati
- વિધિ
- ritual in Sanskrit
- अग्निष्टोम agniṣṭomá
- ritual in Nepali
- अनुष्ठान
- ritual in Tagalog
- sulinaw
- ritual in Arabic
- شَعِيرَة šaʕīra, مَرَاسِم marāsim, طُقُوس ṭuqūs
- ritual in Indonesian
- ritual
- ritual in Persian
- آیین âyin, مراسم marâsem
- ritual in Thai
- พิธี pí-tii, พิธีกรรม pí-tii-gam
- ritual in Vietnamese
- lễ nghi, nghi lễ, nghi thức
- ritual in Myanmar
- အခမ်းအနား a.hkam:a.na:
Examples of ritual in a sentence
- The ritual was performed to exorcise the demons from the village.
- The ancient Romans deconsecrated city walls with a plow, undoing the rituals that first established their course.
- The Church opposed burning people who had received the myron of chrismation in the baptism ritual.
Forms of ritual
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more ritual |
| superlative | most ritual |
| alternative form (obsolete) | rituall |
| Noun | |
| plural | rituals |
Origin of ritual
From Latin rītuālis (adjective), from rītus (“rite”) + -ālis. Displaced native Old English ġewuna and wuna.
Words formed from ritual
Phrases with ritual
Questions about ritual
- What does ritual mean?
- Ritual means related to a rite or repeated set of actions.
- What is ritual in Hindi?
- Ritual in Hindi is रीति (rīti), अनुष्ठान (anuṣṭhān), संस्कार (sanskār). See Ritual meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is ritual?
- Ritual can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce ritual?
- Ritual is pronounced /ˈɹɪt͡ʃ.u.əl/ (UK).
Words near ritual in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ritual (page history and authors); ritual (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ritual (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); పద్ధతి (Telugu) (page history and authors); ആചാരം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ritual (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ritual (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); अग्निष्टोम (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); ritual (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ritual.ogg.
Cite this entry: “ritual.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ritual. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.